photo by: Ann Dean

Lawrence Public Library staff, members of the LPL Friends and Foundation, and some of those involved with a University of Kansas architecture class that designed the project, pose with the library's new bookmobile.

The newest member of the Lawrence Public Library team has four wheels and can hold a lot of books.

The library hopes to use “Dottie,” its new bookmobile, to bring not only books, but also programming such as story times, technology help and other resources to those who can’t easily get to the library at 707 Vermont St.

Library Director Brad Allen said he saw the bookmobile — which the library has dubbed its “outreach truck” — as contributing to the library’s equity efforts and its goal of providing books and information to underserved areas of Lawrence.

“Really our goal is to start looking at the data and being pretty experimental about getting out on the road and finding people where they are and providing service to folks who have a hard time getting into the building,” Allen said.

During the pandemic, the library began providing pop-up library stands at locations such as Checkers Grocery Store and the food pantry Just Food, but Allen said setting up the tents, book carts and moving the books was labor intensive and time consuming. He said the new bookmobile, which is made out of a converted box truck, will allow staff to easily set up at different locations. Allen said a flap on the side of the truck would flip up, creating an awning and exposing a wall of books that people can walk up to and browse.

The bookmobile was made possible through donations from the library’s foundation, the LPL Friends & Foundation, and the help of a University of Kansas architecture class.

Kristin Soper, the library’s outreach and events coordinator, said the library was initially inspired to create an outreach truck after seeing an Airstream camper that was renovated for similar purposes as part of a KU School of Architecture project. Soper said the library enlisted the help of some of the same people involved with the Airstream project. KU architecture professor Nils Gore and his students designed and built the bookmobile, which includes the convertible side awning and shelves that can pull down for easier browsing.

photo by: Ann Dean

KU Architecture Professor Nils Gore and students Hannah Froehle and Bryan Bencamo are pictured with the library’s new bookmobile.

Once complete, Soper said, the bookmobile will have library books that residents can check out as well as free books for both kids and adults that residents can keep. She said that will include multilingual children’s books purchased through a grant from the Douglas County Community Foundation and books residents can keep that were donated to the bookmobile from the library foundation.

In addition to books, Soper said, it’s also envisioned that the bookmobile can have programming such as story times, technology help, library card signup and information about different community resources, just as the library does. She said it’s not yet determined where the bookmobile will be stopping, but the idea is to go to areas farther from the library, such as south or west Lawrence, and set up in places where people already are, such as grocery store parking lots.

“It’s trying to just make the library and its services more accessible for folks who physically can’t get to the library, maybe because of their hours or they are just too busy,” Soper said. “It’s trying to make all our collection and services more accessible.”

Amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, Soper and Allen also said the bookmobile provided a way to access the library while remaining outdoors. Though the idea of bringing back the library’s bookmobile — it has been about 30 years since the library had such a vehicle — has been talked about for several years, Soper said the ability for the bookmobile to help facilitate outdoor events was another consideration. Allen also said the design of the truck, which sets up similar to a food truck with walk-up service, instead of allowing people to go inside, was also influenced by the pandemic.

Allen said a design for the outside of the vehicle was nearing completion, and he thinks it will help illustrate the goals of the program. Soper said the bookmobile’s name, Dottie, is a reference to the dot in the library’s logo and was recently picked by the library foundation from many submissions. It was initially estimated that the bookmobile would be completed this month, but Soper said supply-chain delays have pushed that date back about six weeks, and the bookmobile is now scheduled to roll out in October.